Airport Tower Crumbles For Expansion

Demolition experts turned the original control tower at Fort Lauderdale- Hollywood International Airport into a pile of rubble Thursday to clear the path for further expansion.

The antiquated structure, last used a year ago, seemed to display a bit of human stubbornness, initially refusing to budge as work crews used bulldozers to pull away its supporting columns.

When at last the force of the pull became more than the building could bear, the tower came tumbling down. It was about 10:50 a.m.

Destruction of the tower, which was completed in 1959 at the same time as the first airport terminal, was just part of the demolition work that has accompanied the $262.5 million airport expansion program, which is expected to be finished late this year.

``At the end of the year, all visible signs of the old airport will be gone,`` said Lucy Unsworth, an airport spokeswoman.

Project manager Don Shaver said removal of the tower will allow construction workers to finish connecting the Eastern Airlines concourse to the airport`s recently opened west terminal. The remaining portions of the old terminal adjacent to the old tower site also must be destroyed to make way for more aircraft aprons.

The old tower stood 54 feet tall, while the new tower is 180 feet tall.

Officials said the airport was serving six airlines and 134,733 passengers a year when the original tower was completed. Now, 33 commercial airlines serve about 6.7 million passengers annually.